Mail-bag collecting and delivering apparatus.



E. S. PRIDDY. MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

.APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 28, 1012.

' Patented May 13, 1913.

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E. S. PRIDDY.

MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING-APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 28, 1912.

Patented May 13, 1913.

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E. S. PRIDDY.

MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 28, 1912. Patented May 13, 1913.

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UNITED srarns PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN S. PRIDDY, OF GOTI-IENBURG, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTERN MAILTRANSFER COMPANY, INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13,1913.

Application filed August 28, 1912. Serial No. 717,639.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN S. PRIDDY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Gothenburg, in the county ofDawson and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Mail-Bag Collecting and Delivering Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to mail bag receiving and delivering apparatus,and has for its particular object the provision of simple and novelmeans whereby mail bags may be delivered from fast moving trains withoutdelaying or otherwise injuring the contents of the bag.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide means for delivering abag to a station simultaneously upon the operation of receiving one fromthe station.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the abovestated character which will be comparatively cheap and inexpensive tomanufacture, durable and readily manipulated, and one which in its usewill require no change in either the mail cars or the mail pouches.

WVith these and other objects in view as will appear as the descriptionproceeds, the invention comprises the various novel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts will be more fully describedhereinafter and set forth with particularity in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of aportion of a car showing the car carrying the receiving and deliveringapparatus operatively positioned with respect to the receiving anddelivering apparatus, which latter is suitably positioned along the sideof the road bed adjacent the track thereof; Fig. 2 is a sectional planview showing the relative arrangement of said mechanism; Fig. 3 is asection taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of thearrow; Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal-sectional view of the bag lockingmeans; Fig. 5 is a sectional plan taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6is a detail sectional elevation showing the pivotal connection betweenthe car carrying mechanism and the wall of the car; Fig. 7 is a detailvertical sectional view of the bag receiving and holding mechanismlocated adjacent the car track; Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation taken onthe line 8-8 of Fig. 7 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 9 isa modified form of the bag receiving and holding mechanism; and Fig. 10is a detail transverse sectional view through the sliding sleevethereof.

Similar characters of reference are used to denote like parts throughoutthe accompanying drawing and in the annexed specification.

The apparatus is designed for use in con nection with a car shown at Ain Fig. 1 of the drawings, said car being of the type usually employedin the railway mail service, it being provided in its sides with theusual doorway B through which the collecting and delivering mechanismcarried by the car is adapted to be projected for collooting anddelivering mail bags therefrom.

By reference to Fig. 1. it will be noted that the collecting anddelivering mechanism carried by the car consists of a laterallyextending supporting arm 0, which latter has its inner terminal endspivotally connected to the inner face of the car wall. This arm Gcomprises a main and central horizontally extending arm 1 and a bracedarm 9 arranged above and in parallel spaced relation to the arm 1, theinner terminal ends of said arms being pivotally connected as shown at3, in Fig. (3 of the drawings, to the forward ends of a link 4-, thelatter having its rear ends pivotally connected, as shown at 5, to thewall (3 of the car A. It is to be understood that any well known form ofpivotal connection between these parts may be used, and in this instanceI have shown them to be of the ball bearing type of hinge or pivotalconnection. The forward end of this braced arm 2 extends downwardly andis secured to the upper portion of the arm 1 at a point adjacent itsforward end. The forward end of the arm 1 is bifurcated to provide anarm 7 which is disposed below and in spaced relation thereto, said arm 7projecting forwardly and formed into spaced vertically disposed arms 8and 9.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 5 of the drawings, it will be seen that theforward end of the arm 8 is cut away on opposite sides to providelongitudinally extending recesses 10. trrauged upon the arm 8 is alocking plate 11 which is pivotally secured thereto through the mediumof a bolt 19 passing through the forward portion of the arm 1 and therear portion of the arm 8. Connected to the rear end of this lockingplate 11 is a coil spring 13, the other or free end of said spring beingsuitably connected to the supporting arm 1. This spring is to hold thelocking plate 10 in alineinent with the arm 8 for a purpose that willpresently appear, however, I desire it to be understood that the use ofthe spring 13 is not absolutely essential to the operation of the.ClGVlCGu The forward end of the arm 1 terminates in an upwardlyprojecting and vertically disposed arm 14 to which is secured a guide 15through which a latch pin 16 is adapted to slide, the latter beingpivotally connected at its upper end, as shown at 17, to a trip arm 18,which latter projects forwardly into the path of a trip carried by thebag receiving and holding mechanism, to be presently described, and hasits rear end pivotally connected to the upper terminal end of the member14. A spring 19 is connected to the guide 15 and to the trip arm 18which serves to force the latch pin 16 downwardly through an aperture 20formed in the locking plate 11, into the recess 21 formed in the upperface of the arm 8, whereby the locking plate 11 may be held inlongitudinal alinement with the arm 8 for a purpose that will presentlyappear. The lower arm 9 projects forwardly slightly in advance of thearm 8, and is provided upon its upper terminal end with a pair of spacedparallel receiving arms 22. These arms are fixed transversely of the arm9, and are adapted to be arranged in parallel relation to the car whenthe car carrying mechanism is arranged in operative position, as shownin Fig. 1. It is to be' understood, however, that these receiving armsmay be made to converge slightly from their outer ends toward theintermediate or central portions thereof, whereby the momentum of'thebag supporting means will be greatly reduced gradually as the sameenters and passes along in between the said receiving arms. By referenceto Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be clearly seen that the intermediateportions of these receiving arms 22 are bent downwardly and disposed ina plane below that of the terminal portions of the arm, as clearly shownat 23. The rear end portion of the arm 1 is provided with a suitablehandle 24, whereby the supporting arm C may be swung inwardly throughthe car door and positioned along side of the car wall in an inoperativeposition, as shown by dotted lines in Big. 2 of the drawings. Thesupporting arm C is adapted to be held in its extended or operativeposition by suitable means, such as a latch 25 which is pivotedintermediate its ends, as shown at 26, to the side of the door casing.The upper end of this latch 25 is bent outwardly and upwardly and isadapted to engage under and over the projecting arm 1, whereby thelatter may be held securely against the door casing in its projected oroperative position- When it is desired to move the supporting arm to aninward position, the latch 25 is moved from its vertical to a horizontalposition, whereby the arm may be readily and easily swung inwardly ofthe door-way B. The arm 7 of the supporting arm O is provided withsuitable securing means, and in this instance is shown to be in the formof a hook 27 adapted to engage an eye 28 secured to the inner face OIthe side wall of the car,

whereby the supporting arm 0 may be se-' curely held within the car inits inoperative position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of thedrawings.

Suitably arranged along the road bed of the railroad track is a ,mailbag receiving and holding mechanism D which is shown to consist of asuitably formed base 29, which in this instance is shown to be ofcement. EX- tending upwardlv from the central portion of the base 29 isa vertical standard or post 30 which is suitably braced to the base 29by braces 31. The .upper end of the standard 30 is provided with a trip32 which is formed of upper and lower spaced arms which are connected attheir ends by suitably formed curved portions 33, it being understoodthat the approach from the ends of the trip 32 toward the center thereofis to be gradual so as to allow of easy and free riding movement of thetrip arm thereover. Projecting laterally from the upper end of thestandard 30 in a plane beneath and adjacent the arm 8 and to a pointslightly in rear of the forward end of the arm 8 is a supporting arm 34which is adapted to support a pair of spaced bag receiving arms 35.These arms, like the arms 22, are bent downwardly at their intermediateportions and disposed in a plane beneath their terminal ends, as shownat 36.

Projecting laterally from the upper end of the standard 30 and in aplane below that of the arm 34 is a supporting bracket 37 suitablysecured to the standard 30. This bracket has its opposite sides cut awaytoprovide oppositely disposed recesses 38. Pivotally arranged upon thisbracket 37 is a locking plate 39, similar to the plate 11, and has oneend provided with an aperture 40 through which a latch pin 41 is adaptedto pass and into engagement with a recess 42 formed in the laterallyextending bracket 37. This latch pin 31 is vertically movable through asuitable guide 43 and has its upper end connected to an eccentric link44 which has its upper terminal ends pivotally connected eccentricallyat 45 to a cam actuated trip 46, the latter being pivotally connected toa bracket 47 extending up vertically from the upper' end of the standard30. By reference to Fig. 8 of the drawings,

it will be noted that the cam actuated trip 46 is provided with tripshoulders 48 which are adapted to be engaged by the trip arm 18, wherebythe cam actuated trip may be partially revolved to release the latch pin41 from the locking plate 39.

It is to be understood that the mail bags used in connection with thisdevice are to be provided with suspension chains a9 which are preferablycovered with leather and are provided on their terminal ends with aspherical head or ball 50. The chains 4.9 are adapted to be placed inthe recesses 10 and 38 of the respective mechanisms, and are adapted tobe held in said recesses through the medium of the locking plates 11 and39 respectively, as shown by full and dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 8. Theforward ends of these locking plates are bifurcated to provide parallelspaced locking arms 51, whereby the suspension chains 4L9, after havingbeen seated within the recesses 10 and 38 of the respective parts, maybe securely held therein by swinging the looking plates into alinementwith their respective supporting arms where they can be convenientlylatched and heldin such position until such time when they will bereleased during the catching and delivering of the bags. It will beapparent from Fig. 1 that the balls 50 secured to the upper ends of thechains 49 support the mail bags in position upon their respective armsor supports and are adapted to be transferred from the latter to thereceiving arms 22 and 35 respectively, during which operation the balls50 of the supporting chains 49 will slide inwardly from the terminalends of the said receiving arms to the central or intermediate portionthereof where the balls will slide downwardly upon that portion of thereceiving arms intermediate their ends where it will be obvious that thebags will be securely held upon their receiving arms against accidentaldisplacement or disengagement therefrom during the movement of thetrain, or otherwise.

In the operation of the device and by reference particularly to Figs. 1and 2, the bags E and F to be delivered and received are suspended fromtheir respective supports, as clearly shown. Now assuming the car A tobe moving in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, the trip or arm18 will come into engagement with the trip 32 upon the standard 30 andgradually ride up thereon, raising the latch pin 16 from its engagementwith the locking plate 11 whereby the latter may be free to movelaterally when the chain 49 of the bag E has moved inwardly between thereceiving arms 35 to their inner terminal ends or against the arm 34.\Vhen the chain 49 reaches its limit of inward movement between thereceiving arms 35 the locking plate 11 will move laterally upon itspivot 12 thus allowing the ball 50 to drop downwardly upon the parallelspaced receiving arms 35, the momentum of the bag carrying ball 50 uponthe arms 35 toward its central or intermediate portion until the ball 50seats within the depressed portion of the arms 35 where it will besecurely held and retained against accidental disen gagement from thesearms 35. Immediately after the releasing of the bag 19 and by thecontinuation of the trip arm 18 through its path of movement it willmove into engagement with one of the trip shoulders 48 on the camactuated trip all whereby the latch pin {t1 will be released from engagement with the locking plate 39 thus permitting the receiving arms 22carried by the supporting arm (1 to receive the chain 49 and disengagethe ball 50 from its support, the ball 50 in this instance, like thepreviously described operation will slide inwardly of the receiving arms22 until it drops into the depressed portion of the arms 22 at thecentral or intermediate portion thereof. From this it will be seen thatI have provided a novel means of delivering and catching mail bags fromfast moving trains. It is to be understood of course that when the mailcar is moving in the opposite direction to that just described, the bagsto be delivered and received will be arranged just oppositely to thatdescribed heretofore, and the method of catching and delivering the mailbags will be done in a manner just opposite to that described in theforegoing, as will be obvious by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of thedrawings.

It may be found necessary to use a form of bag receiving and holdingmechanism as shown in lfiigs. 9 and 10 whereby any and all shockincident to the receiving and holding of the mail bags may be readilyabsorbed or taken care of without liability of injury to the mail bagsor to the apparatus. In this form of bag receiving and holding mechanismthe mechanism supported upon the upper end of the standard 30 issuitably secured to a sliding sleeve 52 which latter may be formed of aplurality of plates secured together by suitable means such as screws53. Each of these plates provided with anti-friction rollers 54:suitably secured therein and adapted to engage and roll upon a squarehorizontally disposed track which is supported at opposite ends bysuitble standards 50 which may be anchored in any convenient. term ofbase, as shown at 57. Arranged on the opposite terminal ends of thetrack 55 are shock absorbing devices 58 which are shown to embody a coilspring 59 arranged between the standards 56 and a collar (30 whichlatter is adapted to be engaged by the ends of the sliding sleeve 52.

By a construction such as just described it will be apparent that whenthe mechanism carried by the car delivers a mail bag to the receivingarms carried by the sliding sleeve 52, the latter will slide freelyalong the rack 55 until it comes into engagement with one of the shockabsorbers 58 which will arrest the motion of the bag receiving andholding mechanism in an easy and safe manner.

From the foregoing taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates, that while I have described the principle of operation of theinvention, together with the device which I now consider to be the bestembodiment thereof, I consider the device shown to be merelyillustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as arewithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new is:

1. In a mail bag collecting and delivering apparatus, the combinationwith a movable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outerend of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, abag delivering mechanism formed on the upper arm section, a bagcollecting mechanism formed on the lower arm sect-ion, and means to locksaid bag delivering mechanism in position; of an additional bagdelivering and collecting mechanism mounted on a stationary object andadapted to cooperate with the aforesaid delivering and collectingmechanisms, additional means carried on said stationary object to retainsaid last mentioned delivering means in locked position, and meanscooperating with the locking means on both the stationary and movableobjects to simultaneously dispose the same to their unlocked positions.

2. In a bag delivering and collecting ap paratus the combination with amovable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end ofsaid arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, saidupper arm section being provided with recesses on opposite sidesthereof, a locking plate pivotally carried on said latter arm sect-ionto cooperate therewith in retaining a bag in position to be delivered,means to retain said plate in its locked position, and a bag collectingmeans carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag deliveringand collecting means carried on a stationary object, and adapted tocooperate respectively with the aforesaid collecting and deliveringmeans, and means on the stationary object to temporarily release thelocking means for the plate on said movable object.

3. In a bag delivering and collecting apparatus, the combination with amovable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end'ofsaid arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sec tions, saidupper arm section being provided with recesses on opposite sidesthereof, a locking plate pivotally carried on said latter arm section tocooperate therewith, in retaining a bag in position to be delivered,means to retain said plate in its locked position, and a bag collectingmeans carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag deliveringand collecting means carried on a stationary object and adapted tocooperate respectively with the aforesaid collecting and deliveringmeans, additional locking means for the last mentioned deliveringmechanism, and means carried on said stationary object adapted tocooperate with the lock ing means on both the movable and stationaryobjects to temporarily dispose the same to their released positions.

4-. In a bag delivering and collecting apparatus, the combination with amovable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end ofsaid arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, theupper arm section being recessed on opposite sides thereof, a platepivotally carried on the upper face of said upper arm section andcentrally recessed to provide arms for cooperation with the aforesaidrecesses in said upper arm section, means to normally retain said platein longitudinal alinement with the upper arm section, means to lock saidplate in the last mentioned position, and a bag delivering mechanismcarried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag delivering andcollecting mechanism carried on a stationary object and adapted forcooperation with the aforesaid collecting and delivering mechanism, andmeans on the stationary object for releasing the locking means for theplate on the upper arm section.

In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car, ofbag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting armadapted to be pro jected from the ear, bag supporting means carried bythe forward end of said arm, a catch detachably engaging said last mentioned means, and bag receiving and holding mechanism including a tripadapted to engage said catch to deliver and receive the bags.

(S. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car,of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting armadapted to be projected from the car, the forward end of said arm beingbifurcated to form upper and lower supporting arms, bag receiving meanscarried by the lower of said arms, the upper arm being recessed onopposite sides, a locking plate pivotally mounted upon said upper armand bifurcated at its forward end to provide parallel spaced armsadapted to close the recesses in said upper arm, a spring actuated catchadapted to engage and hold said locking plate in an operative position,and bag receiving and holding mechanism arranged adjacent to the car andadapted to cooperate with said catch to deliver and receive the bags.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car,of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting armadapted to be projected from the car, the forward end of said arm beingformed with spaced vertically disposed arms, the lower of said armsbeing provided with bag receiving means, the upper arm being recessed onopposite sides, a locking plate pivoted intermediate its ends upon saidupper arm and having its forward end bifurcated to provide paralleldisposed locking arms for said recesses, the rear end of said lockingplate being provided with a spring adapted to normally hold said platein alinement with the arm, a spring actuated latch pin adapted to engageand hold the said locking plate in alinement with said recessed arm, atrip arm pivotally connected to the upper end of said latch pin andprojected forwardly therefrom, and bag receiving and holding mechanismarranged in the path of movement of said trip arm and adapted tocooperate with the catch to deliver and catch the bags.

8. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car,of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising bag supportingmeans, means adapted to lockingly engage said means, a spring pressedtrip arm pivotally connected to said last mentioned means, bag receivingand holding mechanism arranged adjacent the car comprising bagsupporting means, a latch pin adapted to lockingly engage said lastnamed means, and a cam actuated trip connected to said latch pin, atrip, said trip and the cam actuated trip adapted to be en gaged by saidtrip arm for the purpose set forth.

9. In an appa 'atus of the class described, the combination with amovable object, an arm carried thereon extending laterally therefrom,the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower armsections, said upper arm section being recessed 011 opposite sidesthereof, a plate pivotally carried on said upper arm section and alsorecessed longitudinally to provide a pair of arms adapted forcooperation with the aforesaid recesses, means to yieldingly retain saidpivoted plate in longitudinal alinement; with the upper arm section, alatch member also carried on said laterally extending arm adapted tolock said pivoted plate in the last mentioned position, a trip leverhaving connection with said latch member, and a bag collecting mechanismcarried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag collecting anddelivering mechanism carried on a stationary object and adapted forcooperation with the aforesaid collecting and delivering mechanism, andmeans on said stationary object adapted to cooperate with said triplever to temporarily release the aforesaid locking means.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with amovable object, an arm carried thereon and extending laterallytherefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper andlower arm sections, the upper arm section being recessed on oppositesides thereof, a plate pivotally carried on said upper arm section andrecessed centrally to provide a pair of arms, the arms of said platebeing adapted to cooperate with the uppc arms of said reccsses to form abag delivering meclmnism, means to yieldingly retain said plate inlongitudinal alinement with the upper arm section, a latch member alsocarried by said first mentioned arm to lock said plate in the lastmentioned position, a trip lever having connection with said latchmember, and a bag collecting mechanism carried on the lower arm section;of an additional lmg delivering and collecting mechanism carried on astationary object, means also carried on said stationary object to lockthe bag delivering mechanism thereon, and means carried on saidstationary object adapted for cooperation with the aforesaid trip leverand the last mentioned locking means to simultaneously release thelocking means on said stationary and movable objects.

In testimony whereof I hereunto attix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ED'WIN S. PRIDDY.

\Vitnesses A. D. Danny, \V. A. MASON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, I). C.

